$720 for full hood 3M clearbra?
 

With a Cleveland winter approaching, now is the time to protect my hood for good. I've been quoted $720 for full hood wrap plus bumper. Any thoughts about the price? Dealer wanted $695 to do the traditional areas (just past scoop & bumper). This way I get full protection without the "line." Authorized 3M installer that quoted the price was BlockAChip near Cleveland, OH. Thanks, Matt

You can paint your hood twice professionally for that much.. I would go to a private vinyl wrapper, cause they are bending you over and raping you. I would never pay that for a piece for vinyl that probably cost about $50..

Well, they haven't raped me yet, which is why I asked. :razz: All the "authorized installers" seem to charge a lot. The traditional clearbra (just above the scoop) was quoted as $565 by the same company. They have done a lot of very high end cars. I highly doubt I could get the hood painted for $720, let alone $360. My few experiences with body shops have been costly for very little repairs (on other vehicles). Had the front/rear spoilers repainted on my 240SX and that was almost $800. Thanks for your input, Matt

I gave you pricing on paint because I have had my hood repainted. ;) And it was about $400 out the door. And my car is one of the metallic paints, they did great work at a great price and are highly recommend in the car community.(locally)

Now, I just would never pay that much at all. I think that is crazy, vinyl is actually very easy to do if you know how. I luckily have a lot of friends in the car community locally and get things done on trade or for very cheap.

I would see how much cost is on the clearbra and see if you can lay it yourself.

The only part that gets paint dings is the front up to the top of the headlights. Covering all the paint you can't ever wax over the plastic. I agree, $700 is a lot of money. Seems like you could get someone to do the essential part for a lot less, but I don't know that.

Just save the money and later on get some

Dr.ColorChip


http://www.drcolorchip.com/

Full hood? Why?? Just do the "normal" area. Line, what line? The worse thing that happens with the line is wax getting built up along the edge. Comes off in 5 seconds with a toothbrush. If you have a lighter-colored car, you'll never see it. On a dark car, just keep the edge clean after waxing, and you won't notice it.

Price is definitely high, shop around. Just be sure it's a reputable, certified installer.

As for the guy suggesting a $50 vinyl wrap - you're kidding, right? That crap won't protect worth beans. Clear bra is made from material originally designed to protect helicopter rotors. It does an incredible job. I wouldn't drive out here in the desert without it.

Thanks to everyone for the input. Maybe I've been brainwashed by BMW to think $720 isn't a lot. LOL The more I thought about, the more outrageous that price became. Plus, I didn't even mention that the guy was also charging for gas to come to my house and do it! I've got six calls to make to other places within 40 miles of my home to get quotes. I do have BRGII, a dark metallic color, so the line will show a bit if I go traditional. I guess I was thinking, what the heck, I don't want to worry at all about chips or the "line." I do have chips in the hood of my jet black BMW way above the "line" and I'm oh so crazy careful with that car too. Well, if anyone has used a good installer in Cleveland/Akron/Pittsburgh area, please let me know. Thanks again to all. Matt

There’s the problem.... “if you know how”. Being in the bodyshop business for almost 30 years, I’d like to see any one of you that have never put it on install a 3M clear bra on the entire mini. I’d pay good money to see that.


I’ve installed more emblems, decals, stripes and crap than I can remember. You have NO IDEA how difficult it is to install all the pieces on the trim, grille, foglamps, mirrors, hood, etc, etc without screwing it up.

I CAN’T... I paid my local 3M dealer 595 (as a favor to me) to have mine installed on my car and I assure you it was WORTH EVERY PENNY.

I do agree with Boosted Mini saying find someone to trade it out with but there is no way if you’ve never installed a clear 3M bra (the 3M material is softer and stretchier than some of the other products) you can fit it perfect on all the pieces.

And far as the idea of painting a hood twice for what it would cost for a clear bra... no way, you’d have the factory paint plus two more paint jobs on the hood. If you thought your factory paint was chipped, wait until you add two more paintjobs.

Find a better price and go get the front end wrapped, you’ll be glad you did. It’s like an 15-18 piece kit.


Mark

+1

+2

I agree, this takes skill & experience. That's why I am willing to pay someone to do it right. I get paid for my skills and doing what I do well, why shouldn't someone else? I just want to avoid a "raping" as Boosted Mini stated above. So, $565 is fair for the normal install (1/3 hood or whatever it is) bra? Dealer wanted $695 for the same thing. Plus, keep in mind the training, equipment, liability that the goes with an independent guy doing this type of work. What I'm saying is, that our view of this guy making a quick $500 or whatever may be slightly skewed.

Also guys, make sure you compare apples to apples. In my case, it wasn’t just a “hood” install.

My kit included...

Hood
JCW bumper
bumper upper moulding
grille upper moulding
headlights
foglights
headlight trim rings
mirrors
rear bumper

Granted, my bumper, grille and headlight trim rings are painted to match the car so it’s that much more (and my scoop before I replaced it with an M7 one)

I watched the guy do my foglamps, they were a PIA... the poor guy did it at least 3 times before making it right.

Anyway, I paid my guy 595 which I think was like 100 bucks less than retail. I’m not sure how much it would have been if I were only getting the bumper and hood.

Mark

i was just quoted $650 to VentureShield the full hood, scoop, lower bumper, side mirrors and headlights.

considering i can't do it myself, it doesn't seem unreasonable.

Hey Goo, I was sold on the full hood too, then kind of talked out of it with the comments here. :confused: Not sure what to do now. 3M says you can wax this stuff like the paint and I still like the idea of no line, but then again I'm knitting with only one needle at times! :impatient:

[QUOTE=I highly doubt I could get the hood painted for $720, let alone $360.[/QUOTE]

Had Porsche hood and front valance professionally re-painted , beautiful job-$300.

The REASON I had it repainted was previous owner, from Seattle, paid over $500 for a brand bra...to "protect" his prized P-car.
I considered this akin to covering your living room furniture in plastic so it would "stay nice"
When I got back to the swamp after buying, I removed the bra to find that water had soaked into it, shielded by the bra and had caused little paint blisters in an 8 inch band headlight to headlight.

Would any innocent soul out in cyberland like a lightly used P-bara-911/912 for 25 cents and postage?

Drive the car-paint the bug-chip damage.

matt,

i don't want the line either. if it was there, i'd see it every time i walked by, no matter how "unnoticable" it was. plus, i plan on striping over it later on.

The line is there with the 1/3 hood coverage bra. Only you know if you can live with it. Simple decision on that one.

I don't know if you want to consider it (I didn't) is the leading edge of the roof. Along with the windshield pits, I've gotten quite a few rock chips on the area in front of the sun roof.

Don't quote me...LOL, but I guess the body shops around here are just more expensive. The whole point of this is to avoid paintwork, not argue about how much a respray costs. Hell, I could do it for $2.49 with a can of Krylon if you want to argue price. (I'm only kidding, Krylon is over $3 a can now).

$720 full hood is on the expensive side.
$720 full front (hood, front fenders, bumper, lights) is dirt cheap.

i paid $2k for full front on a porsche. i guess if you scale that back for a hood on a mini, then it should be around 4-500$. but heck, if the installer is top notch, then it's money well spent vs. saving 200-300$ for a bad install.

i have the dealer installed option, it came on my car when i bought it. it works fine and after 2 years of lousy pennsylvania roads i have no chips, so i think its worth it. theres no down side really, except the initial cost. one thing that i would say is that my mini dealer doesn't want anything to make me unhappy so i would think twice about going outside of that high-quality service, to have something added. if something would make you unhappy later on with the install, the people at mini are hard to beat for customer service.

also, not sure you need a full hood cover. i don't have any chips on the uncovered area.

I watched the installer do the front bumper on my MINI, no way in hell could I do it and not make a mess out of it. Also, mine is a 2011 JCW in that sparkle black color, and I have to look real hard to see the line on the hood. Had an outside detail done two weeks ago and still had to look hard and close to notice the line. Oops, black is not a color. I'm wondering if there are different qualities of clear bra and some of them make a more noticeable line across the hood.

I'm torn about this one too. I just sold my 335i that had a 1/3 invisible bra on it and I hated that line. The car color was called "graphite" (dark grey) and the line was very obvious. In fact, the first comment anyone made about the car, 10 minutes after I got back from picking it up at the dealership was, "What's that line? Is that supposed to be there?" I'm leasing my MINI (ordered, but I haven't gotten it yet) so my decision is, do I pay the money up front to avoid the hood repaint charge when I turn it in or do I take my chances that maybe it won't need it when I turn it in. I'm leaning towards taking my chances since paying for the bra up front is a sure expense whereas the re-spray is just a possibility and even if it has to be done, it shouldn't cost much more than the bra (and I don't have to look at that darn line).

When my car gets here, the dealership has quoted around $800 bucks to do the "normal" portion of the hood, the front bumper, mirrors, top of the rear bumper and around the exterior door handles (fingernail scratches) for that price. Its a tough pill to swallow, dropping another 800 bucks, but I figure it will kill me to put up with rock chips worse. Does that price seem reasonable?

I got a guy here in Florida that will wrap the whole car for not much more then that. So I would consider that a little over price. Wait hold on, you are going to the stealership that is why. They are going to rape( ya I said RAPE!!) you on labor.